Friday, November 16, 2012

So I have to pay car insurance this week, which I knew about. But they send these automated reminder calls to your phone. On the bill you have two options: pay the whole thing, or make a payment every couple of months. And of course the total of the separate payments is somewhat higher than paying it all at once. Pretty straightforward, and it's for the cash constrained people that don't have the cash to pay it all at once.

That's not the trick.

What I found interesting is that the automated message never even mentioned the total lump sum payment option. They only mentioned the installments.

I wonder what percentage of their customers got the bill a month or two ago, forgot about it and the payment options, got the call before it came due and rushed to pay the higher price because it was the only one mentioned. It's minor, but if the only difference is a slightly adjusted automated message I guess it's an easy way to make more money.

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